Chapter 413: Hes Grown Much More Sensible

For a while afterward, Ji Yuan spent some quiet time at home, and also checked on the condition of the Lightning Edict Talisman. It was in much better shape than the previous Warrior Talisman. The unique nature of the Lightning Edict itself had allowed it to suppress the effects of the Lightning Tribulation.

However, because the Lightning Talisman was so powerful, it wasn’t suitable for detailed study in a place like Ju’an Pavilion. Therefore, Ji Yuan temporarily refrained from an in-depth investigation. In any case, the state of the Lightning Talisman was improving.

Late into the twelfth lunar month, Ning’an County was hit by a cold front. Although the temperature dropped sharply, the atmosphere in the county grew more and more festive. Every household put up couplets and hung red lanterns, and the City God Temple on Temple Administration Lane joined in, decorated with lanterns and colorful decorations.

Due to special circumstances, Ju’an Pavilion was not deserted this year. However, because it was sometimes too noisy, which displeased Ji Yuan, the little characters had restrained themselves considerably. At least, they did not shout recklessly, and spoke in a gentler tone rather than in a hurry.

On the twenty-fifth day of the twelfth lunar month, Ji Yuan stood in the courtyard, continuing to deduce the profound mysteries hidden within the dimensional storage in his sleeve, when footsteps sounded outside the courtyard.

Soon, a series of knocks echoed at the gate.

Sun Fu knocked on the door a few times and found that the gate of Ju’an Pavilion was only slightly ajar. After he knocked twice, he had pushed it open a little.

“Come in, the door’s unlocked.”

Ji Yuan’s voice came from inside. Sun Fu glanced at Sun Yaya beside him, and whispered another reminder to “be polite.” Then, carrying his things in one hand, he pushed open the door of Ju’an Pavilion with the other and saw Ji Yuan bent over the stone table in the courtyard, writing.

Ji Yuan looked up at the visitors. Sun Fu was carrying a burlap sack and a bottle of wine, while Sun Yaya followed closely beside him. Although she was wearing a thick cotton-padded jacket, her little face was still red from the cold.

“Mr. Ji, I brought you some New Year’s goods. The bag contains homemade cured chicken, duck, and pork, as well as sausages. They are all homemade. This bottle of wine is merely from a distillery, I hope you don’t mind!”

Sun Fu lifted the bag with a smile, then looked at his granddaughter, who quickly and obediently spoke.

“Hello, Mr. Ji!”

“This is excellent, hello!”

Ji Yuan didn’t refuse and thanked him with a smile.

“Thank you for your kindness. Please leave the items in the kitchen. I can’t leave my writing at this stage, so I will not be leaving the table to help you. It’s cold outside, so please come in and sit down in the main room.”

“Oh, oh, please continue with your work, I’ll take care of this little thing! We’re just delivering some New Year’s goods, we have other things to do at home!”

Sun Fu hurriedly carried the things into the kitchen. Sun Yaya did not follow; she looked around in the courtyard, the majority of her attention still lingering on Ji Yuan.

She watched Ji Yuan write with curiosity, finding his movements beautiful. She couldn’t help but take a few steps closer. Then she looked at the words on the paper on the table and thought they were even more beautiful.

Sun Yaya’s initial awkwardness about visiting a stranger’s home disappeared after arriving at Ju’an Pavilion. She even dared to get close to a stranger after her grandfather left the room.

Ji Yuan looked at the little girl who had unknowingly moved closer to the stone table. He looked her over as he began to ask her questions. Although he couldn’t see the details of her appearance clearly, she had a kind of hazy cuteness.

Seeing that she was reading his words intently, he asked her in a gentle voice.

“Can you read? Can you understand what’s written on the paper?”

Sun Yaya looked up at Ji Yuan and shook her head.

“I can’t read yet. Grandpa said he’ll send me to a private school after the New Year. The teacher will teach me to read and write, and then I’ll be able to understand what I read.”

The little girl hadn’t uttered a word the last time they met, but this time Ji Yuan could hear her speak. He found her voice very clear and crisp, perfectly matching what he had imagined her to sound like.

“Hehe, it is indeed good to read and write. Reading more books can broaden your horizons. If there are boys in the school who laugh at you for being a girl, just ignore them.”

“Okay!”

Sun Yaya nodded, then looked Ji Yuan up and down.

“Sir, aren’t you cold?”

The little girl was dressed very warmly, not only in a floral cotton-padded jacket, pants, and warm shoes, but she also wore several layers of inner lining. Even so, her face was still red from the cold, while Ji Yuan seemed like he should be freezing no matter how one looked at him.

Ji Yuan shook his head and smiled.

“Don’t let my seemingly light clothing fool you, miss. I’ve actually stuffed several linings of cotton inside my clothes, so I’m very warm.”

“Really?”

Sun Yaya looked at Ji Yuan’s chest and back with some skepticism. They didn’t look bulging at all. Then she looked at herself and realized she had become much rounder.

“Yaya, don’t disturb Mr. Ji while he’s writing!”

Sun Fu came out of the kitchen and called out to Sun Yaya. Then he hurriedly asked Ji Yuan:

“Mr. Ji, did Yaya disturb you?”

“It’s alright, Yaya is very well-behaved.”

Sun Fu rubbed his hands on his clothes; he loved hearing any praise for his child.

Sun Fu had come by today just to deliver some New Year’s goods to Ji Yuan. They weren’t worth much money, but Sun Fu felt that it was a token of his appreciation.

Now that he was older, seeing Mr. Ji return made him appreciate even more the simple wisdom of his father. It was always good to cultivate a good relationship with someone as extraordinary as Mr. Ji.

Moreover, as Mr. Ji said before, anyone facing difficulties could come to him. Considering Mr. Ji’s relationship with Lord Yin, many problems could be resolved with just a word.

They were supposed to leave after putting setting down their gifts, but seeing Ji Yuan writing alone in the courtyard, and having just checked the kitchen only to find that there was basically no rice left except for that in the bin, it seemed to him that Ju’an Pavilion was completely unprepared for the New Year.

So Sun Fu also approached the stone table with a few steps. He hesitated for a moment, then spoke to Ji Yuan.

“Mr. Ji, in our Sun family, my brother and my two families always spend New Year’s Eve together. It’s more lively with more people. I was thinking, why don’t you come to our house this year and share the New Year’s Eve with us?”

Ji Yuan’s hands moved swiftly, each stroke of his brush a powerful and elegant character forming on the paper. He naturally declined Sun Fu’s kind offer.

“I appreciate Mr. Sun’s kindness, but it would be better if your two families enjoyed the New Year’s Eve family dinner together, so that nobody feel uncomfortable with either side.”

Sun Fu should have tried to persuade him again, but Ji Yuan’s words, though spoken gently, gave off an inexplicable sense of irrefutability, causing Sun Fu to blurt out something else entirely.

“Oh, then if you need anything, please feel free to come to me. You know our family lives in Tong Shu Lane, you can ask anyone there.”

“Haha, I know, I remember. Besides, even though it’s the New Year, I still have to go out for a while.”

“Oh? You’re leaving again? How far are you going, and how long will it take?”

Sun Fu asked in astonishment.

“Not too far, not too far at all, and not for very long. I’ll be back soon.”

“That’s good, that’s good. Uh, then this old man will take his leave!”

Old Man Sun felt a little relieved and bowed with cupped hands to Ji Yuan. Then took Sun Yaya’s little hand, preparing to leave. However, at this moment, Ji Yuan called them back.

“Please wait a moment while I finish writing this line.”

Ji Yuan continued writing at a steady pace, calmly finishing the last column of text he had deduced for the day. He lightly touched the end of the paper with the tip of his brush, and a faint light to shimmer on the paper.

At this moment, Ji Yuan straightened up, held the brush, and bowed to Sun Fu.

“I’m sorry for neglecting you. It’s almost the end of the year; when the children come to visit, they expect sweet tea and red envelopes of lucky money.”

Ji Yuan started to walk into the house as he spoke.

“Oh, oh, oh! No, no, Mr. Ji, how could Yaya take your money!”

Sun Fu hurriedly ran over to stop him, and then turned to Sun Yaya.

“Our Yaya doesn’t want New Year’s money either, right?”

Sun Yaya stood there biting her lip without saying a word, clearly longing for New Year’s money, which made Sun Fu both angry and amused.

Ji Yuan smiled as he looked at Sun Yaya, and said to Sun Fu.

“Well then, let me make the child a cup of sweet tea to warm her up. It’ll take a while to walk back to Tong Shu Lane. It’s cold today, and I have a special kind of sweet syrup that will warm you up. You can’t refuse that, can you?”

“Well… thank you, Mr. Ji!”

Ji Yuan nodded and went back to the kitchen. Even though no fire had been lit to boil water today, he still brought out a teapot and teacups in just moments. He said that he was making sweet tea for Sun Yaya, but that there was no reason to only pour tea for children, so Sun Fu naturally also drank a cup of tea.

After the Sun family left Ju’an Pavilion and walked through the streets and alleys of the county, they felt warm all over, and the chill of the dead of winter was dispelled.

“Grandpa, this sweet tea is so delicious! It’s sweet and refreshing, and it warms me up. I want more! Could you ask Mr. Ji where he bought the sugar and tea leaves? We can get some for our family too, okay?”

Sun Yaya innocently asked Sun Fu on the way home.

“Silly child, you can’t buy this kind of sweet tea!”

As Sun Fu walked with Sun Yaya as he held her hand in his warm palm. Sun Fu’s heart felt as warm as his body. He didn’t feel it when the tea entered his stomach, but not long after they left Ju’an Pavilion, a warm current started to flow from his stomach, making his limbs feel numb, itchy and extremely comfortable.

Sun Fu, a shrewd old man, understood perfectly that this New Year’s gift was priceless!

After the Sun family left, Ji Yuan put away the stack of papers on the table in the courtyard. Today, he had deduced more than twenty pages, and the words on those pages were densely packed. He glanced at the papers in his hand, then closed his eyes, savoring what he had learned that day.

After a long while, Ji Yuan opened his eyes again. The paper in his hand had turned into dust and scattered.

“Doctor Tong came by, Lord Zhu visited, and now the Sun family has stopped by too. We won’t leave empty-handed during the New Year holidays. And we’ll have the New Year’s goods ready!”

The items delivered by the previous groups had already been tucked into his sleeves as soon as he entered the kitchen.

Ji Yuan looked up in the direction of Niu Kui Mountain. A few breaths later, he moved like a gentle breeze blowing towards Niu Kui Mountain.

Before long, Ji Yuan had arrived above the promontory where he had once lectured atop Niu Kui Mountain. Looking down from the sky, he saw a red fox sitting cross-legged on the platform, imitating a human’s posture, with its two front paws slightly misaligned, if making a hand seal.

“You’ve improved quite a bit!”

A soft voice sounded, and Hu Yun’s ears twitched slightly. He opened his eyes and looked up at the sky. After confirming several times, he saw that it really was Ji Yuan. His face immediately lit up in ecstatic joy.

“Mr. Ji! It really is you, it really is you! I thought it was a hallucination, I thought it was another hallucination! It really is you…”

The red fox sounded extremely excited, and towards the end it even carried a hint of tears. After Lu Shan Jun left, he experienced an unprecedented and intense sense of loneliness.

Ji Yuan’s figure slowly descended from the platform, and the red fox leaped to his side, letting Ji Yuan reach out and stroke its fiery red, fluffy fur.

“Do you want to see Yin Qing?”

“Yes!”

Ji Yuan looked at the red fox.

“He hasn’t returned to Ning’an County all these years, aren’t you upset with him?”

Hu Yun shook his head.

“I don’t blame him. Yin Qing has great ambitions. I know he’s been very busy these past few years!”

“Haha, you’ve matured quite a bit. Let’s go, we’re going to the capital of Dazhen.”

With a flick of his sleeve, Ji Yuan brushed past the red fox, and the next moment he soared up into the heavens with Hu Yun.